Ana Moura has become a leading exponent of this poetic, deeply expressive idiom which personifies the Portuguese psyche as it explores such universal themes as lost love, separation, and longing.
As Ana explains, "It's very special because it's all about emotions and feelings. It needs no translation."
Ana was born in 1980, in Santarém, the bustling capital of the Ribatejo province in the center of Portugal's heartland on the Tejo River northeast of Lisbon.
The city of half a million souls is also one of Portugal's most historic cities -- an ideal place to develop an appreciation for fado. "I've been singing fado since I was little, because grew up listening to it at home," she recalls of her early home life. "My parents sang well, and at family gatherings, we all would sing."
Like young people everywhere, she soon developed an appreciation for other styles of music. The lure of singing fado, however, never waned. In her late teens, while sing pop and rock music with a local band, Ana always included at least one fado in each performance. Then, one night on a whim, about five years ago, she and some friends went to one of Lisbon's storied fado houses -- small performance venues where singers, guitarists and aficionados gather to worship the affecting style that's become Portugal's most important music export.
At the urging of her companions, she sang. "People liked me," she recalls of her first foray into a venerated bastion of the fado culture. Later that year, at a Christmas party that was attended by a lot of fadistas (fado singers) and guitarists, she sang again and, as fate would have it, noted fado vocalist Maria de Fe was in the audience and was duly impressed. "She asked me to sing at her fado house," Ana recalls of the fortuitous moment that launched her career.
"My life changed when I began going to the fado houses," Ana states today. "There's no microphone -- it's very intimate. New singers learn through a kind of apprenticeship, learning the intricacies of the style from the older, more established singers."
Before long, word of Ana's rich contralto, stunning looks and innate affinity for the demanding style spread, winning airtime on local television programs devoted to fado and rave reviews in Lisbon newspapers.
Ana has emerged as a leading voice of traditional fado just as the venerable idiom is enjoying a renaissance of popularity. "Today," she explains, "there's a new generation that sings lyrics related to our time. There are some older fado songs that we, the younger singers, cannot perform, because the lyrics are about a time and themes we don't identify with. We don't feel it, and fado is all about feelings. We must feel what we sing, and there are many older fados that don't belong to our generation. Younger singers use lyrics that speak of today, so young people have begun to get more interested in the music again."
As with jazz and country music in the U.S., tango in Argentina, samba in Brazil, fado sprang from the culture of working class people. And, as with the aforementioned examples, over the years the style evolved from humble origins to win broad appeal. Today, as Ana proudly proclaims, "In Portugal, fado is for everyone."
Like virtually every aspiring fadista, Ana drew early inspiration from the example of Amalia Rodrigues, the revered singer who most personified the style. "It was her soul and her voice," she comments of the late vocalist's singular imprint on the music. "She had everything in her. Some singers have a great voice by no soul, no intensity. Others have feeling but not a suitable voice. She had it all, and, she was a very good improviser."
Improvising is an under-appreciated part of the fado tradition. One technique, which Ana uses to great effect on the song "Lavava no rio lavava" (I Went to the River to Wash), is what the Portuguese term vocalisos -- the expression of words and effects through use of vocal trills. The practice is believed to have been absorbed over centuries of exposure to Spanish flamenco and Moorish styles.
A key track from her album exquisitely sums up the magnetic pull fado has exerted on Ana. "Sou do fado, sou fadista" (I belong to fado, I am a fadista) by her mentor and primary collaborator, guitarist Jorge Fernando, eloquently explains Ana's total surrender to the style:
"I know my soul has surrendered, taken my voice in hand, twisted in my chest and shown it to the world. And I have closed my eyes in a wistful longing to sing, to sing. And a voice sings to me softly, and a voice enchants me softly, I belong to fado, I belong to fado, I am a fadista."
Today, Ana Moura still thinks of how and where it all began, and of the importance of keeping those vital ties alive. "Before," she muses, "I used to sing in the fado house every day. Today, because of my concert schedule and travel, it's impossible. But, when time permits, I like to return. Sometimes I feel that I must go there. I need that."
(Adapted from a text by Cindy Byram)
Vou Dar de Beber à Dor
Ana Moura Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
À casa onde vivia a Mariquinhas,
Mas 'stá tudo tão mudado
Que não vi em nenhum lado
As tais janelas que tinham tabuinhas
Do rés-do-chão ao telhado
Não vi nada, nada, nada
E há um vidro pregado e azulado
Onde havia as tabuinhas
Entrei e onde era a sala agora está
À secretária um sujeito que é lingrinhas
Mas não vi colchas com barra nem viola, nem guitarra,
Nem espreitadelas furtivas das vizinhas
O tempo cravou a garra na alma daquela casa
Onde as vezes petiscavamos sardinhas
Quando em noites de guitarra e de farra
Estava alegre a Mariquinhas
As janelas tão garridas que ficavam
Com cortinados de chita às pintinhas
Perderam de todo a graça porque é hoje uma vidraça
Com cercadura de lata às voltinhas
E lá p'ra dentro quem passa hoje é p'ra ir aos penhores
Entregar ao usurário umas coisinhas,
Pois chega a esta desgraça toda a graça
Da casa da Mariquinhas
P'ra terem feito da casa o que fizeram
Melhor fora que a mandassem p'rás alminhas,
Pois ser casa de penhores o que foi viveiro d'amores
É ideia que não cabe cá nas minhas
Recordações do calor e das saudades o gosto
Que eu vou procurar esquecer
Numas ginginhas,
Pois dar de beber à dor é o melhor,
Já dizia a Mariquinhas
Pois dar de beber à dor é o melhor,
Já dizia a Mariquinhas
The song “Vou Dar de Beber à Dor” by Ana Moura tells a story about the singer passing by the house of Mariquinhas, a person who used to live there and who the singer used to spend time with. However, the house has been completely changed and the singer cannot recognize anything that reminds her of Mariquinhas. The singer remembers the happy moments spent with Mariquinhas and how they used to party and eat sardines in that house. The changes made to the house, turning it into a pawn shop, seem to have sucked out all the life and happiness that used to reside there. The singer suggests that the best way to deal with the pain of losing the past is to drown it in alcohol, which is something Mariquinhas used to say.
The song is about the nostalgia of a place and time that cannot be brought back. The changes made to the house symbolize the way that time and progress move on and often take what was once beautiful and turn it into something less desirable. The singer suggests that it is better to forget than to dwell on the past.
Line by Line Meaning
Foi no domingo passado que passei
I passed by last Sunday
À casa onde vivia a Mariquinhas
To the house where Mariquinhas used to live
Mas 'stá tudo tão mudado
But everything has changed so much
Que não vi em nenhum lado
That I couldn't see anywhere
As tais janelas que tinham tabuinhas
The windows with the wooden boards
Do rés-do-chão ao telhado
From the ground floor to the rooftop
Não vi nada, nada, nada
I saw nothing, nothing, nothing
Que pudesse recordar-me a Mariquinhas
That could remind me of Mariquinhas
E há um vidro pregado e azulado
And there's a blue glass nailed in place
Onde havia as tabuinhas
Where the boards used to be
Entrei e onde era a sala agora está
I went in and where the living room used to be
À secretária um sujeito que é lingrinhas
There's a skinny guy sitting at a desk
Mas não vi colchas com barra nem viola, nem guitarra,
But I didn't see any bedspreads with trim, nor a viola or a guitar
Nem espreitadelas furtivas das vizinhas
Nor the discreet glances from the neighbors
O tempo cravou a garra na alma daquela casa
Time has taken hold of the soul of that house
Onde as vezes petiscavamos sardinhas
Where we used to snack on sardines sometimes
Quando em noites de guitarra e de farra
On nights of guitar-playing and revelry
Estava alegre a Mariquinhas
Mariquinhas was happy
As janelas tão garridas que ficavam
The once colorful windows
Com cortinados de chita às pintinhas
With polka-dotted chintz curtains
Perderam de todo a graça porque é hoje uma vidraça
Lost all their charm because now they're just glass
Com cercadura de lata às voltinhas
Bordered with a twisted metal frame
E lá p'ra dentro quem passa hoje é p'ra ir aos penhores
Now, those who go in there are going to the pawnshop
Entregar ao usurário umas coisinhas,
To give some things to the usurer
Pois chega a esta desgraça toda a graça
For all beauty is lost when it comes to this misfortune
Da casa da Mariquinhas
Of Mariquinhas' house
P'ra terem feito da casa o que fizeram
For what they've done to the house
Melhor fora que a mandassem p'rás alminhas,
It would have been better off sent to the souls in purgatory
Pois ser casa de penhores o que foi viveiro d'amores
For the home that was once filled with love is now a pawnshop
É ideia que não cabe cá nas minhas
It's an idea that I cannot accept
Recordações do calor e das saudades o gosto
Memories of warmth and longing
Que eu vou procurar esquecer
That I will try to forget
Numas ginginhas,
With a shot of Ginja liqueur
Pois dar de beber à dor é o melhor,
For giving the pain a drink is the best remedy
Já dizia a Mariquinhas
As Mariquinhas used to say
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: ALBERTO JANES
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind